Once and for All
by tobethefairybest
Summary: After the battle against Tartaros, Gajeel has something to tell... Gajevy Oneshot!


**Here it is! My very first Gajevy story! It's a oneshot, and I'm planning on letting it stay a oneshot.**

 **Thanks a lot missyplatinum for proofreading!**

 **Reviewing would be nice ^^**

* * *

"Gajeel, you can't fall asleep here," Levy said, crouching down next to the passed out dragonslayer. She gently poked his cheek, but the only reaction she received was a loud snore.

She sighed and walked over to the other side of the low wall he had draped himself over.

It had been a tough fight for all of them. The demons of Tartaros had shown no mercy and she was sure she wasn't the only one who wondered how they all came out alive. However, no one came out of the battle unharmed, whether it was physical or mental. The dragonslayers were among the mages that had suffered the most as they all had had to say their final goodbyes to their beloved dragons.

Levy couldn't help but smile as she thought of how Gajeel had comforted Wendy while they said their farewells. He has always acted like a big brother towards the little slayer and somehow it made Levy proud to see him like this.

She glanced over to her side, where he lay fast asleep, stretched out over the park's wall. He probably wouldn't wake up for the rest of the day.

Levy yawned. It wasn't until now that she realised how many hours they had stayed awake, at least two whole days. The fact that she had someone asleep next to her wasn't really helping too.

She felt her eyelids grow heavy. She carefully lied down on the cold, overgrown bricks. This place sure wasn't the most comfortable, but she was so tired it didn't even matter to her anymore. The ground beneath her felt like it was rapidly disappearing as she fell deeper and deeper into a vast sleep.

* * *

A sudden chill down her leg made her regain her consciousness again. Her eyes were still closed, but she was sure she had been sleeping for a bit. Slowly, she opened them, and they quickly startled wide when she noticed the difference in daylight from the time she went to sleep.

Levy sat up straight in a second and panic took over, just how long had she been asleep? She looked over to the spot where Gajeel had been sleeping peacefully, but it was empty. She glanced up to the sky, judging from its shade, it must have been around 5 pm.

"Did ya get enough beauty sleep or do ya wanna continue?" She heard an all too familiar rasping voice say from behind her back.

She turned around in an instant. "Gajeel!" she yelled, slightly upset and a little relieved. "Don't creep up on me like that!"

"Gihi, I couldn't help staying here, someone had to look over ya when you were asleep." He grinned. "I just sat down underneath that tree," he pointed to a sturdy looking tree behind him, "until ya woke up."

Her eyes widened once again. "When I was asleep?" She tried hard to retrieve her last memories before falling asleep. "But you were the one who was asleep, I just closed my eyes for a few minutes to gain some rest."

"Well, I've spent over 3 hours here at the very least."

"What?!" she yelled as she jumped up. "Y-you're not kidding?"

"Why would I?" he rhetorically answered. "If I would've wanted to scare the crap out of ya, I would've said 10 hours."

Levy couldn't help but laugh. His unintended silliness was something that would always light up her mood.

"But now that you've finally woken up, I need to show ya something."

"Show me something?" she asked. It wasn't like him to change to a serious subject all of a sudden.

He walked up to her with ease he lifted her up and draped her over his shoulder.

"Gajeel! Put me down, I can walk on my own you know!"

"Of course I know. But I don't want ya to see where we're going," he responded as he started walking into the park.

"Can't you just guide me there while I keep my eyes closed or something?"

"Too late," he said in a tone that assured Levy he was absolutely enjoying himself. "And besides, this is way more fun."

She lifted her head a bit so she could look around. To her horror she found people in the park staring at them. A mother even covered her kid's eyes. The script mage tried to hide her embarrassment by showing a bright smile, but the people were looking at the pair in just as much bewilderment.

"Put me down I said," Levy hissed as she hammered her tiny fists into his back, hopelessly realising it would be no use; he probably wouldn't even feel it.

"Quit whinin' would ya?" he sighed. "We're already there."

He leaned over until Levy's feet could feel the ground again.

"You should quit doing that, you know?" she said as she adjusted her wrinkled dress. "I hope you don't do that to more people than just—" Her words got stuck in her throat when she looked up again. "—me." She almost silently finished her sentence.

In front of her, rising up from the most central part of Magnolia Park, stood the humongous oak she knew all too well. It was her first time seeing it in over a year, 8 years if she counted the years they were frozen in time on Tenrou Island. She had been avoiding it, but it still appeared in her nightmares. Gazing upon it sent stone-cold shivers down her spine.

She turned around. "Gajeel, this is…"

He avoided her gaze by looking at the tree. A few meters high, the holes where nails were once slammed into the bark were still visible. "This's a chapter I've wanted to close off for a very long time now..." he softly said.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I've already forgiven you?!" she yelled, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"Levy," He said with all the patience he could bring up as he rested his hands on her shoulders, being careful to not put too much pressure on her tiny body. "Please lemme talk, it's hard enough as it is already."

She couldn't do anything but listen after hearing this. This wasn't the closed off, distant, but kind Gajeel she was used to. He was serious.

"From the time I was a little brat, I've always been in trouble," he started. "I had the wrong friends, joined the wrong guild, and made the wrong choices." He took a deep breath and sighed out slowly. "But every time I was given punishment by the Magic Council, one council member would halt me and tell me to change my life."

He grinned. "She told me I reminded her of her son who had passed away. I laughed at her for comparin' me to a dead person, but actually that was the nicest thing someone had ever told me." The dragonslayer looked up to the top of the tree. "She always said the same thing to me each time: _Please, leave this behind you and start a new, meaningful life_." His grin turned into a painful expression. "Her name was Belno."

Levy's facial expression froze. "Wasn't she…?"

"Yes," he softly grumbled. "She was the council member we had to protect from those scumbags of Tartaros."

He walked a few steps over to the tree, braced himself, and hit it with his iron studded fist as hard as he could. If he had been using magic, it would have snapped in half like a matchstick. Although, the tree did shake and let go some of its oldest branches and leaves.

"It's my fault she was killed!" he roared. "If I only got there a little sooner! If I got there sooner, I could've—I could've—!"

The dragonslayer was at the edge of an emotional breakdown when he felt an unexpected warmth around his waist. He looked down and through the blurriness of his upwelling tears, he saw the source of the warmth were two tiny arms.

"Gajeel" he heard Levy say in a cracking down voice, "please don't say that. It's not your fault."

He could feel her face press into his spine and instantly a wave of calmness made him come back to his senses. His legs started to shake and he let himself fall down on his knees.

Gajeel felt the warmth on his back and waist disappear. When he looked up again, he looked right into the script mage's hazel eyes. She had kneeled down before him and cupped his pierced face into her tiny hands. His eyes widened at this unexpected gesture.

"Gajeel, you know the only ones who are to blame for her death are the demons from Tartaros."

She gripped his shoulders and looked straight into his red, now even more bloodshot, eyes. "Think of what she said, about living a meaningful life."

"...meaningfull?" he asked her, semi-confused.

"Well, you know..." she retrieved her hands from his face and folded them uncomfortably on her lap, "what makes your life worth living?"

"You," he blurted out.

It took him more than a second to realise what he just had said. He felt the blood rise to the top of his head and covered his mouth with both hands. He looked away to hide his now coloured face. "Why?! Why did I say that?!" he thought to himself. "What is Levy thinking? She must be confused now and feel the pressure of reacting to this."

He couldn't even find the courage to peek through his fingers, let alone face her. With all his heart he wished to vanish this very moment, along with his clumsiness and unworthy social skills. It was a bad idea to drag her here. He couldn't even remember what he had expected to happen.

The plan was just to say sorry once and for all. Confessing was something he would probably have procrastinated until he remained in the friend zone for all eternity, just like Jet and Droy. The chances of her feeling the exact same were so low, weren't they? She'd forgiven him for attacking her, but there was no way she'd have such feelings for a brute like he had been, right?

All these thoughts shot through his brain like crazy birds in a cage. He moved his hands upwards, until only his palms covered his eyes. The dragonslayer dug his nails into his skull and pulled on his hair. The pressure in his mind kept on growing as he started grinding his teeth in stress.

"I would choose you too."

He froze in his movements and his wired mind turned blank.

Gajeel dropped his hands and slowly looked up.

''You're also the one thing that makes _my_ life worth living.'' Levy said, smiling through her tears.

His eyes widened and he found himself lost. No sentence could reach his mouth.

''But how-, since when-'' He muttered but he was cut of by Levy leaning forward and draping her arms around his neck.

''Seriously, don't ever leave my side.'' she said as she rested her head in the nape of his neck, smiling against his skin.

He folded his scarred arms around her waist. A smile crossed his face as he tightly hugged her back. ''That's my line.''


End file.
